Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 202,242 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 16.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,055,656 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 202,242 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $34,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,360,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,594,000 after purchasing an additional 161,239 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 3.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $107,042,000 after acquiring an additional 95,664 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,900,882 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,039,000 after buying an additional 9,429 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Veracyte by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,078,000 after buying an additional 360,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Veracyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,158,000.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Veracyte stock opened at $57.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.73 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $60.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $49.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.95.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veracyte in a report on Monday, April 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $197,226.81. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,480.33. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Annie Mcguire sold 3,176 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.76, for a total value of $158,037.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,240 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,062.40. This trade represents a 2.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 206,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,058 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a genomic diagnostics company focused on improving diagnostic accuracy and patient care through advanced molecular testing. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company develops and commercializes minimally invasive genomic tests that aid in the diagnosis of thyroid, lung and other diseases. Veracyte’s proprietary platform analyzes gene expression patterns in clinical samples to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions, reducing unnecessary surgeries and improving patient outcomes.

The company’s flagship product, the Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier, is designed to assess thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology, helping clinicians distinguish benign from suspicious nodules.